Battle of Mikatagahara

The Battle of Mikatagahara occurred on 25 January 1573. During his march on Kyoto, Shingen Takeda marched his 35,000-strong Takeda army through Totomi Province, the lands of the Tokugawa clan. An angered Ieyasu Tokugawa ignored the advice of his generals and decided to attack the Takeda army with his army of 11,000 soldiers, and the two sides met at Mikatagahara.

The Takeda army, which outnumbered the Tokugawa army by a significant margin, advanced south towards the main Tokugawa army. Tadakatsu Honda decided to blunt the Takeda vanguard in the west, showing off his skills as a warrior. However, the crafty Shingen Takeda dispatched a raiding party under Masakage Yamagata and Shigetsugu Yonekura to surround and defeat Tadakatsu's daughter Ina, who had been holding back the Takeda advance in the east. Meanwhile, Ieyasu ordered a withdrawal towards Hamamatsu Castle, leaving behind several kagemusha body doubles to distract the enemy. Yukimura Sanada slew all of the doubles, but they had bought Ieyasu enough time to escape from the front lines. Yukimura then halted Ieyasu at the Oiwake Bridge as he retreated towards Hamamatsu Castle, and Tadakatsu Honda went from the north, where he had been defeating the main Takeda army's officers, to rescue Ieyasu. Kyuzaburo Suzuki, Yoshinobu Natsume, and Tadatsugu Matsui died in battle while holding back the Takeda advance, causing Ieyasu much grief. Tadakatsu then headed down to the central garrison and defeated Yukimura Sanada, but, shortly after, Nobufusa Baba, Moritomo Saegusa, and Masatane Hara arrived with Takeda reinforcements. Tadakatsu Honda headed to the northern side of the Oiwake Bridge, preventing the Takeda reinforcements from crossing the river to pursue Ieyasu. Ieyasu was able to reach Hamamatsu Castle due to Tadakatsu's stand at the bridge, but the Takeda ninja Kunoichi appeared and announced that the castle was closed. Tadakatsu headed south and defeated Kunoichi, and Shingen Takeda himself then arrived, intending to assault Hamamatsu Castle. Tadakatsu warned that attempting to stop his lord was punishable by death, and he defeated Shingen, allowing for Ieyasu to escape. While the battle was a defeat for the Tokugawa, Ieyasu was able to escape, and complete disaster was narrowly averted.